Sierra Leone Achieves Record Marks

The Government of Sierra Leone is pleased to inform the general public, development partners, civil society groups and the media that on November 7th 2012 Sierra Leone passed the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard for the first time since the international ratings initiative was established in 2004.

The MCC is a United States government aid agency that gives funds to low income countries as a reward for good governance. The decision on which countries to give funds to is based on annual performance scorecards consisting of 20 indicators that measure social, political and economic issues.

To be considered for funding a country has to pass the 'Control of Corruption' indicator and either the 'Political Rights' or 'Civil Liberties' indicators. Sierra Leone successfully passed all three.

To be eligible for the larger amounts of funding - known as a compact - a country must pass half the indicators. For the first time since the MCC was launched in 2004, Sierra Leone has achieved this important landmark by passing 12 indicators. Until this year, Sierra Leone's highest pass rate was 7 indicators.

The huge jump in Sierra Leone's scorecard this year means Sierra Leone is now ranked in joint fourth (4th) position in the West Africa sub-region, passing more indicators than Benin, Gambia, Mali, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea.

Sierra Leone passed the following important indicators: Regulatory Quality, Trade Policy, Gender in the Economy, Access to Credit, Health Expenditures, Immunization Rates, Girls' Primary Education Completion Rate, Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption.

This outstanding achievement comes against the background of the Government's efforts to promote an all-round sustainable development in the country.

Sierra Leone's dedication to improving its MCC scorecard was coordinated by the Policy Benchmarking Desk in the Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) at State House, with assistance provided by the US Embassy in Freetown. State House would like to commend the participation of all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA's) and the support of our assessor institutions.

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